A RedBlack Tradition
by The Second Batgirl
Summary: You can't fight the power - no matter who you are, or how many powers you've had.


"What the hell were you thinking?" the very loud, and very angry voice demanded.

Tommy blinked and rubbed his eyes, not entirely sure who was in his bedroom. It was too early to have coherent thoughts. There was no coffee.

The voice was familiar though. Although usually, he didn't remember that voice being quite as angry with him.

"Adam?" he asked. "Why are you in my bedroom?"

"Why?" Adam practically thundered. "After what you did, you're asking me _why_?"

"We didn't screw around or anything last night, did we?" Tommy asked, trying exactly to remember what happened the night before, and coming up with what he thought was the only plausible explanation. "Because Rocky will probably kill me, and if he doesn't kill me, then you'll probably kill me. Or you two will try to, but I do have Ranger powers now..." he trailed off as he realized why Adam was mad at him.

"Sorry for stealing your color?" he said apologized half-heartedly. "But you took mine first!" It was an important point, and Adam had never really apologized for wearing green.

Adam stared at him, in the "you really aren't getting it how the hell did you get a PhD anyway" look that Tommy had seen so often on his friends' faces the last few years.

"You," Adam said. "Are wearing black."

"I said I was sorry for wearing your color!"

"Your Red Ranger is in _high school_, Tommy. What the hell were you thinking?"

"You said that already," Tommy said, as he finally made it out of bed. "Will you please explain to me what's going on, and why you're so mad about this? Is it because I'm a Ranger again and you're not?"

Adam just threw his hands up in disgust and stormed out of the room.

Tommy threw on some more clothing and followed, hoping that since Adam had interrupted him this morning (and he really hoped not the night before) that he would at least have the decency to make some coffee.

*

"Who are you?" Conner asked the guy who had shown up at his house. He looked a little familiar, but that could mean anything.

"Rocky Desantos," the guy said. "I'm an old friend of Tommy's. I'm here to talk to you about your new um... color situation."

"Oh!" Conner said. "Color, right! Come on in, my parents aren't home." He led Rocky into the house and offered him some soda. "You were in Doctor O's video. You were um... red and blue, right?"

"He has video?" Rocky said in surprise. "Of course he does. I bet he stole the footage from Billy."

"So, what do you want to talk to me about? Words of wisdom from one red to another?" Conner asked eagerly.

"Something like that," Rocky said. "There's something you need to know about the relationship between Red and Black Rangers..."

*

"You're insane," Tommy said bluntly.

"I'm not the one who decided I needed to pick up a _fourth color_ and fifth set of powers, so I'm pretty sure I'm the sane one in this conversation."

"Which one of us used a broken morpher?"

"Details," Adam said, waving his hand and then taking a sip of coffee. "But everything I said was the truth."

"You're telling me that every single Red and Black Ranger that served on a team together has had ended up together."

"Pretty much," Adam said. "Or at least had a relationship at some point."

"Danny and Cole," Tommy said challengingly.

Adam raised an eyebrow at him and nodded.

"But Danny and Max are married."

"And Danny and Cole didn't end up together permanently, but the bond is still _there_. It isn't always a permanent thing. Andros and Carlos and Danny and Cole all went their separate ways, but Aurico and Corcus, Jason and Zack, and Rocky and I all stayed together."

"Just because of your colors?" Tommy shook his head and then had a horrifying thought. He jumped to his feet, managing to spill coffee all over the homework assignments he was supposed to be grading that weekend. "Where is Rocky, anyway?"

"Talking to Conner," Adam said with a shrug.

"You're letting _Rocky_ talk to _Conner_."

Adam just smirked at him, and Tommy sank back down into his seat, ignoring the coffee that was dripping off the table.

"I'm doomed."

*

"So is that why I had that dream last night?" Conner asked when Rocky had finished his explanation.

"About Tommy?" Rocky asked, and Conner nodded, managing only to blush a little.

"I really don't want to ask for the specifics, since Tommy is my friend, but probably." He dug in his pocket and pulled out a card and handed it to Conner.

"You're a therapist?" he asked.

Rocky nodded. "Yeah, and besides my regular clients, I'm also the unofficial counselor for Rangers and former Rangers who need someone to talk to."

"Thanks," Conner said. "So um, what am I supposed to do about Dr. O?"

*

"He's my _student_," Tommy said. "I'm not going to do anything with him."

"So you're not attracted to him?" Adam pressed.

"Of course I'm attracted to..." The words came out of Tommy's mouth before he could stop them.

Adam somehow managed to look smug, even when he was shaking his head at Tommy. "You see my point."

"He's my _student_," Tommy said again.

"Well," Adam suggested. "Think of it as an extended exercise in self-discipline."

"I hate you," Tommy muttered.

"Cheer up," Adam said. "Maybe you'll get lucky and end up going evil again. That way you won't be around him."

"That isn't funny at _all_."

*

The next few days were an exercise in torture. Adam had been right - the more they morphed, the stronger the attraction was. Tommy had called Jason and Zack as soon as Adam had left, but they hadn't really been of any help - in fact, Zack hadn't stopped laughing long enough to say anything at all, and Jason had just told him not to get arrested or fired. Then he'd offered to call Kimberly or Trini and ask them to come help out.

Traitors. All of them.

And Hayley was even worse, what with the constant string "I'm not a Ranger and even _I_ knew this" comments.

The fact that Conner was avoiding him wasn't helping matters. The more they ignored things, the worse it was. He couldn't do anything about it - Conner was his student. Tommy was probably freaking him out just by looking at him. But they needed to be able to work together.

Rocky was the only one who had actually offered useful advice.

"Talk to him about it," Rocky had said. "You're a Power Ranger, where the hell is your courage? Obviously you're not going to act on it, but you can't keep avoiding the situation forever. Besides, he already knows about the situation, so it's not like you have to explain it to him"

Talking was still a lot harder then it should have been. Kira and Ethan kept giving them _looks_. Tommy was almost grateful when Trent went evil and he spent a while stuck in his suit. Of course, then he had to deal with both being stuck in the suit and the mockery of his old friends (he _really_ needed to stop giving them ammunition. Ranger reunions were going to be hell this year).

*

"Dr. O, we need to talk," Conner said one day. Tommy had been suit-free and visible for a few days now, and Conner figured that this had given him enough time to get back to normal, or whatever passed for normal these days.

They needed to have this conversation. It was eating at him.

"Sure, Conner," Dr. O smiled at him, and Conner tried not to react. "What did you want to talk about?"

"That thing Rocky told me about," Conner said, but he stopped when Dr. O flinched.

"You're my student," Tommy said. "The power is pushing us to do something. But we can't do anything about it. We can't act on it. Besides, you should have something that isn't just based on the power."

Conner wasn't really sure that was fair - Adam and Rocky had seemed pretty happy together, even if the power was responsible for them getting together.

Tommy walked out of the room, and Conner thought that he heard him whisper "I'm sorry."

*

Tommy thought that the feelings would go away when they lost their powers. They weren't Rangers anymore, and the obsessive need to wear black was beginning to fade, letting him bring green, white and red back into his wardrobe.

But thoughts of Conner were still constantly on his mind.

Conner wasn't his student anymore - he could technically go ask him out now. But it wouldn't be fair - wouldn't be right of him to go after the younger man. It should be Conner's choice - not just because of what the power wanted him to do. Tommy was over this destiny shit - he'd had enough of it back when he was wearing green.

It didn't matter that this could lead to something like what Jason and Zack had, or Adam and Rocky. There was going to be choice.

And he wasn't going to go after a student.

*

"I'm not your student anymore," Conner said when he walked into Tommy's lab the day after graduation. "I'm legal, and you're not in any position of authority over me."

"The power is..." Tommy started, but Conner snorted.

"We don't have our powers anymore, remember? So yeah, _maybe_ it's just what the leftover power in our system wants us to do. But you know what? I don't care. We just saved the world. There's nothing stopping us."

And then he closed the gap between them, kissing Tommy firmly.

Tommy's resistance crumbled as soon as Conner kissed him. Suddenly it was like everything came into focus, everything that he'd been denying for so long. There was only him and Conner, and it didn't matter if it was because of the powers. It felt so real, and so right, and he would enjoy it for as long as he was able.


End file.
